Elongated workpieces, such as a drive shaft, require heat treatment of selected features on the workpiece. For example, a first feature, such as a pinion gear, may be provided at one end of a drive shaft, and a second feature, such as a universal coupling may be provided at the other end. The gear and coupling are of different physical configurations and require different heat treatment patterns for metallurgical hardening of these components. Additionally a heat-treated feature may need to be tempered after heat treating to relieve metallurgical stresses in the material of the feature.
One method of heat treating the workpiece and features on the workpiece is by electric induction scanning (or progressive) heat treatment. In this process, the workpiece generally moves through one or more scan inductors, although in other arrangements, the workpiece may be stationery and the one or more scan inductors (coils) may move along the length of the workpiece. AC power is applied to the scan inductor to create a magnetic field around the inductor. The field magnetically couples with the workpiece to inductively heat the workpiece. AC power to the scan inductor may be varied as the workpiece passes through the inductor. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,808 teaches controlling the induction power and/or the scanning velocity of the scan inductor by comparing instantaneous power and the instantaneous velocity with a known energy distribution profile. The rate at which the workpiece moves through the inductor (scan rate) can be used to control the degree of heating at the cross section of the workpiece that is coupled with the magnetic field.
Induction heat depth of penetration (induced current depth of penetration, δ) of a workpiece can be calculated from the formula:
  δ  =      503    ⁢                  ρ                              µ            ⁢                                                  ⁢            F                    ⁢                                                    
where δ is in meters; ρ is the electrical resistivity of the workpiece in ohm-meters; μ is the relative magnetic permeability of the workpiece; and F is the frequency of the supplied induction power in Hertz. Therefore depth of penetration is inversely proportional to the square root of the frequency of the applied current. If the workpiece has two features with a first feature that requires heating to a shallow depth of penetration (e.g. 2.5 mm), and a second feature that requires heating to a deeper depth of penetration (e.g. 4.5 mm), the conventional method uses an inverter with a fixed output frequency, for example 10,000 Hertz, to achieve the shallower depth of penetration. From the above equation, the inverter's output frequency should be lower than 10,000 Hz for the deeper depth of penetration of the second feature of the workpiece, but since the frequency is fixed, the induction heat scan of the second feature must be slowed down to allow for deeper heat penetration by heat conduction into the second feature. Further because of the slower scan rate, inverter output power to the induction coil must be reduced to avoid overheating of the surface of the second feature. Also a heat-treated feature may require tempering of the heat-treated feature to reduce stresses in the feature. Typically the feature is first heat treated in a first scan with low power and fixed high frequency to heat treat to the required depth of penetration, and then heated in a second scan with fixed low frequency to temper the feature.
One object of the present invention is to vary the output frequency of the inverter while adjusting the output power level of the inverter by pulse width modulation, as required to inductively heat treat and/or temper various features of a workpiece to different depths of penetration in an induction scan of the workpiece.